White House confirms France's Macron as first state visit of Trump presidency

French President Emmanuel Macron shares a light moment with US President Donald Trump speaks during their meeting in New York on the sidelines of the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 18, 2017.

SOURCE: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images

White House confirms France's Macron as first state visit of Trump presidency

French President Emmanuel Macron will come to the United States for the first state visit of the Trump administration, the White House confirmed Wednesday.

President Trump was Macron’s guest at the annual Bastille Day celebration last year that coincided with the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entrance into World War I. Trump apparently was so inspired by the grand military parade in the heart of Paris that he later called for a similar display of U.S. military hardware in Washington later this year.

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A formal announcement of the impending state visit, including the dates, has yet to be released.

Trump is the first U.S. President in decades to wrap up his opening year without offering a counterpart the honor of a state visit, which is a diplomatic tool used to impress and showcase ties between allies.

Not since Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s has a president ended his first year in office without hosting a foreign leader for a state visit, according to the White House Historical Association.

Coolidge assumed office in 1923 after the sudden death of President Warren G. Harding, and was elected to a full term in 1924. Coolidge didn’t hold a state dinner until October 1926, for Queen Marie of Romania, according to the association.